Give me tie shoulder straps or give me death.
Okay, maybe I’m not quite dramatic about my sundresses, but still, I like a bow feature, which this Kelly dress by Hearts and Found offers. Generally speaking, I like everything from Hearts and Found, because come on; customisable dresses in cute prints, perfect cuts and always of pockets? What isn’t there to like about this wonderful woman-owned business? If there are any the Kelly dress isn’t one of them.
If you don’t know then you’re about to get a ruuuude awakening: I’m an unladylike loser dork. These pictures will dispel any misplaced notions of sophistication or grace. Therefore, I both love and hate sharing them with you, and it’s time for round 8. Let’s go! Continue reading
It’s no secret that I like a bit of gingham. Or, more accurately, a lot of gingham. I’m also a vocal fan of yellow, so this Margita dress by Miss Candyfloss isn’t exactly an out-of-left-field choice for me. And once I saw how good it looked on Miss Victory Violet and Scarlett Luxe, who had each snagged it from stockists, I was chomping at the bit waiting for it to go up for sale on Miss Candyfloss’s own website. Once it did I placed my order immediately, and now here we are, united, happy little sunshine daisy yellow dress on a happy little Amy.
I’ve said it more than once here on the blog, but generally I can’t be considered a fan of leopard print. When done well, though, I do appreciate it, and the Troublemaker leopard print dresses by Vixen by Micheline Pitt are definitely leopard done well.
The Troublemaker pencil dress was the first release in this leopard print to catch my eye last fall, a long-sleeved slinky wiggle that was all va-va-voom. I immediately fell in love with it but my infrequent wearing of wiggle dresses meant I knew I couldn’t justify adding it to my wardrobe, where it would likely be under utilised, which would be akin to a crime. This same leopard print is also offered on the Vixen swing dress and Vixen pencil skirt, as well as the long sleeved Troublemaker top. The Troublemaker swing dress, though, is what I was waiting for, a cut that would fit seamlessly into my existing favoured styles but with the added purr and growl of this saucy print.
Let’s just get this out of the way right now: I’m scared of spiders. I can handle the almost transparent wispy ones, or tiny little ones. Once you get into the long legged, large bodied, dark coloured realm of arachnids though, I am, more often than not, outtie. No. Nope. Nuh uh!
And yet, weirdly, I noticed this winter I started to react with surprised appreciation at the jewelled vintage spider brooches I saw some of my fellow pinups wearing, rather than confused horror. I didn’t immediately count out a pretty print I may have run across if it had a bit of webbed detailing among the artwork. And by the time this Oblong Box Shop original Charlotte’s web collection came out, with the stunning colour combination of coral and rich petrol blue, I was actually sold.
Yes, in all honesty, I am slightly concerned that one day while wearing this sweater the spider in the artwork will catch my attention from the corner of my eye and I might drop whatever I’m holding in my eagerness to free both hands to frantically bat at my own shoulder in fear, but, you know, we’ll just have to wait and see on that. In the meantime, I think we all have to agree these colours alone are worth that risk.
Y’all, I’m sure you know this already because when it happens we Brits can do nothing but complain about it, weak as we are, but it’s been hot here. Like, doesn’t happen in England very often kind of hot. (Aka, around 30°C.) I know that’s nothing compared to what some other countries have to deal with but it’s a rarity for us; some summers it doesn’t reach that heat at all, or perhaps for one day. We are much more used to damp summers, chilly springs, and frosty winters. When it gets hot here, with our humidity levels tending towards the downright rude, we kind of don’t know what to do except stand around moaning while we get all pink and clammy.
As such, it’s been a fairly simple style month. When it’s been hot the pincurls have been ditched in favour of buns, I’ve had little mental effort left to figure out how to tie together an outfit when my standard cropped cardigans haven’t been required, and honestly some days I haven’t felt like putting in any effort at all. Thankfully the heatwave is over and fingers crossed that will be it for this summer. Bring me sunny days with cool breezes.
Havana eShakti dress, Honey Tootsie Cropped Cardigan from Doll Me Up, old eBay shoes, Deluxe Clip in Bettie Bangs by Classy Rebel
I’ll tell you what–there are many ways we Brits are poorly adapted to dealing with hot weather, but for me one of the things I struggle with most is how uncomfortable I find tight seams and waistbands during hot weather. That might sound weird, but just picture it; you throw on one of your favourite dresses in the comfort of your cooled bedroom in the morning, then go out into the sweltering day only to realise a few hours later as you sit sweating at your desk, or on the bus, or waiting for your friend to turn up to your lunch date, that it was a mistake. Because in that moment, while you’re feeling hot and sticky and fed up, you realise that this dress–which was always a bit on the tight side because you were technically between sizes from this brand and you opted for the smaller size because it looked better on, even though you have to wear particular underwear with it–is actually fresh hell.
The waistband, which normally feels like it’s flattering your waist by cinching it in by sheer force of the fabric, is digging in to the clammy skin of your waist, and the bust feels like it’s squeezing your poor boobs, and the whole thing is just too tight and uncomfortable for humidity and summer and oh god why did you do this to yourself, this is not the kind of weather for sucking in and posing and remembering in every moment to be poised. You should have picked out one of your dresses that’s a bit looser, airier, one of those ones you normally have to add a belt to in order to feel it fits properly.
Or, you know, you should have worn one of your dresses that was literally made for you, custom measured in every aspect to fit your body. That, my friends, is what I’ve been doing a lot during our little British heatwave, and thanks to Hearts and Found I’ve been so much more comfortable for it.
Somewhat shy of novelty prints as I am, I do appreciate a print with novelty features that doesn’t shout them out at you at first glance. This is much easier to achieve in a repetitive all over print than, say, a border print skirt. Still, if it’s a choice between a print featuring a mid-action blaring circus scene or a muted leaf print featuring some sneaky birds, I’m going to opt for the latter. And what do you know, the Tropical Parakeet dress from Emily and Fin features just that.
There’s several different ways a dress can win me over: by it’s colour scheme, it’s print, or it’s overall shape. This Illustrated Rose print Liliana dress but Lady Voluptuous got me on all three.
When the Liliana dress was first released a few months back I immediately wanted to try it. I’m a sucker for off the shoulder dresses because I think they’re flattering on every body shape and size, so this Bardot sleeved full skirted number easily ticked that box. The way the sky blue of the print’s background interacts with the pinks, purples and greens of the floral pattern left me in no doubt this was a summery, bright look that I would be happy to wear.
Every season I look forward to visiting the Miss Candyfloss booth at London Edge, not just to see what pretty things will be coming out in the new line but also to have a little chat with the lovely ladies behind the brand. On the whole Miss Candyfloss is a classic, fairly modestly styled line, offering a ton of staple wardrobe pieces that can be worn across seasons and across occasions. For their Autumn-Winter ranges I love to see what sleeved dresses they put out because they truly excel at making them, but for their Spring-Summer lines I get excited to see what prints they’ll be focusing on for the season.
For SS17 they’ve given us The Housewife Collection, featuring a lot of fun options for novelty lovers, with daisies, multicoloured bicycles, kitchen utensil prints, and gingham galore alongside solid pastels and brights. As I’m not much novelty-inclined a lot of their printed pieces aren’t for me, but the very first moment I spotted the beige, mocha and blue stripes of this Lovis-Dora dress in their Lookbook I knew I would be ordering it as soon as it came out. Continue reading
